Georgia’s catwalk fashion: Autumn/Winter 2014-15

The best place to discover next season's fashion trends is the catwalk at local and international fashion shows. This is where the final creations of fashion teams showcase their products, from clothes and shoes to hair and make-up looks that define the forthcoming fashion season.

Click here to see in Pictures the photo reportage of Tbilisi Fashion Week 2014. 

At Tbilisi Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2014-15 show, spectators saw everything from the ever-present black fashion trend from George Shagashvili to aggressive leather with Salle De Mode and elegant and independent women’s fashion with Eloshi, Avtandil, Diana Kvariani, TEYO, Datuna Sulikashvili, Atelier Kikala and Gola Damian.

With the aim of promoting Georgia’s fashion talent to the world, Tbilisi Fashion Week only presented Autumn/Winter 2014-15 collections at this year’s fashion festival at the Rose Garden earlier this month.

Season’s highlights

With so many labels to choose from, what were this season's highlights? Milan Style Academy director, Gianni Fontana, gave his verdict and summarized Tbilisi’s latest fashion offering as "individual and a little bit difficult to sell”.

"It is my second visit to Tbilisi in the framework of Fashion Week and I believed Georgia’s fashion industry is not too far from Milan, New York and London Fashion Weeks,” Fontana said.

Fashion journalist for Stab magazine and contributing editor at Surfing magazine Chas

MACH and MACH A/W’14 collection. Photo by Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge

Smith was a little more critical and said: "Georgian designers are creating what is in fashion. The challenge for them is to cross these borders and to create the materials that will be in fashion in the future.”

"I came here to choose new faces for the world fashion business,” Smith said while speaking during a master class with local fashion journalists about guiding principles of fashion journalism.

Among the honored guests of the Tbilisi Fashion Week was Milan-based fashion stylist, visual researcher and fashion consultant Serena Toffetti. She shared her experience with local designers, buyers and bloggers about fashion styling and updated them with information on fashion trends during her master classes in Tbilisi.

 Foreign guests at TFW waiting for the show of Diana Kvariani, a Georgian designer. Photo by Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge

Master class participants were exposed to fashion industry secrets and asked questions related to their fields of interest, with the point being to gain knowledge about the industry and be inspired by people who have been through the ups and downs and made it out successfully.

Having comparing the local fashion trends to global catwalks, Toffetti said Tbilisi Fashion Week was "young and fresh”.

"Every fashion week has to make sense and Tbilisi Fashion Week made sense. I had not expected something bizarre,” she said.

The creations of Diana Kvariani, a fashion designer; Photo by Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge  

Toffetti highlighted world fashion trends were not just imagined then created but had a purpose. The creations were sparked by what "people needed”.

"To be functional, this is the task. Designers should always keep their mind open, I mean to be constantly updated about what is going around in fashion magazines and exhibitions,” Toffetti noted.

A week of fashion

Tbilisi Fashion Week saw a week of beautiful colours and shapes feature on the catwalk. The event, which featured a mix of 20 well-known Georgian designers and newcomers, was opened by the capital's most discerning fashion names - Lado Bokuchava as art director of Atelier Kikala and Gola Damian / Dalood Group.

The Gola Damian collection used a mixture of black trousers with colourful blouses and this made the catwalk very diverse. The collection was dominated by funny pieces and bombers.

  The chicest looks from the front row at TFW 2014. Photo by Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge

A black coat from Atelier Kikala’s Autumn/Winter 2014 collection was appreciated by many including local and international fashion experts, including Georgian designer Teona Tavartkiladze, who said: "The black coat was amazing. I would like to wear it.”

Designers also kept to their roots and incorporated traditional Georgian elements into their collections. Lela Eloshvili’s collection from fashion house Eloshi was dominated by prints of Georgian theatre interior. Her women were strong and elegant. 

"Designspiration” was a way for designers to share their fashion inspiration. This year the occupied territories and the barb wires along the Georgian villages was the inspiration behind the collection from Aleksandre Akhalkatsishvili from House Materiel.

One of the most different approaches from other brands was presented by fashion house Salle De Mode. The pieces were described as somewhat aggressive with a mix of different patterns.

The creations of Salle De Mode, a fashion house. Photo by Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge

One of the distinguished shows of Tbilisi Fashion Week was presented by Denmark-based Georgian designer George Shaghashvili. His source of inspiration was Africa and American-based artist Ryan McGinness’ solo efforts, Geometric Primitives.

As it was expected, Shagashvili’s black coloured collection was popular. Reviewers said he had a talent to use good shapes and designs and mix different materials. "I liked the mixing of leather and silk”, fashion journalist Chass Smith said after the show.

Shagashvili presented 61 costumes, a significant number for any fashion show. His efforts were appreciated more as he managed to make each piece impressive for the audience.

"He is in astral; his collection was non-physical,” one photographer told Shaghashvili backstage after the show.

He answered his creations was his astral. "I don’t need narcotics or alcohol to enter the astral. My family and my works are my astral,” Shaghashvili said.

Sulikashvili's glamorous red, white and black-coloured creations closed Tbilisi Fashion Week, rounding off five days of shows.

-

George Shaghashvili A/W’14 collection. Photo by Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge

Datuna Sulikashvili A/W’14 collection. Photo by TFW Facebook page